Beau Wanzer - Issue No. Twenty

Beau Wanzer - Issue No. Twenty
Beau Wanzer has been criticised for releasing tracks that sound unfinished. He's often deemed a descendent of the L.I.E.S. school of hard knocks, but while Ron Morelli's label introduced him to a new audience, he should be considered a free agent. Where his contemporaries look to '80s DIY misfits for inspiration, Wanzer inhabitants the legacy like it's his own skin. It can be hard for newcomers to discern the differences between one scuzzy jam and another, but Wanzer's music has unique substance.

Refining and sanitising aren't priorities for Wanzer. This isn't music made with a context or listener in mind, which gives Issue No. Twenty a transitory allure. Like bird watching, you might spend a lot of time staring into the trees, but that flash of colour makes the wait worthwhile.

Wanzer's fluency with machines shows that he's a keen observer of the music that's shaped him. The combination of queasy phasing and pre-delayed reverb on "Speaker Sisters" turns a dry drum machine into a churning portal. (It sounds great on 45 RPM, too.) "In One Ear" is one of the best tracks he's made. There's just a drum machine, a synth and some effects, but the vibe is twisted, the groove kicking like a toxic goth in knee-high boots. "He Pushes Meals" also has the funk, hitting a paranoid sweet spot between post-punk, electro and cold wave. "Shitty Cough 17" feels like choking on a truckload of phlegm. Considering Wanzer apparently makes a track a day, it's anyone's guess how many more gems are in his archive.